Everybody Needs A True Friend (Beaches (DVD))

Member Name: JoandLee

Product:	Beaches (DVD)
Date:	31/03/06 (480 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything

Disadvantages: Nothing

WOW what a film Bette Midler truly excels as the egotistical fame driven wannabe singer an actress who meets her match in Barbra Hershey a snobby lawyer who has had everything set out for her and really should follow that route.

I love Bette anyway but this film shows her at her best we see her comical, sincere and you also get the pleasure of seeing her sing. What more could you want.

A quality film by Garry Marshall, set in 1960s but released 1988.

Starring Bette Midler & Barbra Hershey.

Bette is CC Bloom a flamboyant, outspoken starlet desperate for fame.

Barbra is Hilary a posh, upper class young lady who has everything she could possibly need but not what she really wants a true friend.

A true story of friendship overcoming everything that life throws @ them.

It starts with Hilary sitting on the beach steps crying because she doesn’t know the way back to the hotel that she’s staying in with her father & aunt. CC is under the steps having a sneak cigarette. No sooner have they introduced themselves than CC’s mum is @ the top of the stairs shouting that CC has an audition so she’d better hurry or Iris Myandowski, “ the hand walking queer” will get the fame CC yearns so much. So off the three go to the auditions where we hear CC sing “that’s the story of love.” She misses out on the part to Mira an its at that point her & her mum decide that the Blooms have had enough and the playhouse can find another kid to work for nothing as the Blooms are going home.

Hilary at that point consoles CC and tells her she thought she was great. Just what you need to do with CC. Her ego needs fed constantly.

Off the two girls set to Hilary’s hotel and it is on the way there that they struck up their friendship. They stopped at a photo booth and took pictures together and little did they know that it was those pictures that would relight their friendship in their hour of need.

They keep in touch through writing as they are from such different classes that there is little chance they can meet up, at least until later in life.

Watch as CC grows as a singer always surviving but never quite getting to where she wants. And Hilary as she becomes a lawyer not because she wants to but because that’s what was expected of her. I reckon it is at least 10 years before they meet again and it is when Hilary tracks CC own to the club she is singing in to tell her that she has left her old life behind including her fathers money and is keen to make it on her own. She moves in with CC they spend Christmas together and they friendship blooms again. Hilary helps CC pursue her acting / singing as well as becoming a legal aid member. And it is whilst driving CC to a sing a gram that the tension starts. Here we meet John Pierce a small time theatre director always looking for fresh talent and thinks he’s found it in CC. Through this he meets Hilary and on CC’s big night John & Hilary become more than friends thus pitting CC against Hilary as CC doesn’t want him yet but cant stand anyone else having him. They argue and fall out but don’t get the chance to make up as Hilary’s dad is dying and she has to go to him.

Whilst apart they follow their own lives. Hilary marries her fathers lawyer, Michael Essex and tries to settle into the life they want her to live. CC on the other hand jumps at the chance to get one over on Hilary and railroads John into marriage.

Next time they meet it is again at CC’s big night and the tension cant be contained anymore and the first time they are alone things get very heated they both accuse each other of not doing as they planned as children.

And so the rift deepens then when things start going bad for CC she looks to Hilary to mend the rift but Hilary wont budge. Then things go terribly wrong for Hilary, she finds out her husband is not only having n affair but has moved his mistress into the house and to make matters worse Hilary’s pregnant.

This makes her realise she really does need her only true friend, CC so goes off in search of her. The reunion isn’t quite what she expected as CC was hurt that she never got in touch. However once Hilary apologises CC changes then when she tells that she’s pregnant everything is great. CC’s ecstatic and cant wait to be part of the baby’s life.

CC by this time has divorced John but is looking and has agreed to be Hilary’s birthing partner then when she realises there will be blood & tears that’s just too much to handle until she sees Hilary’s gynaecologist he’s gorgeous has money and thinks CC is the best. Just what she needs someone to fill her ego even more. They date then CC gets the chance to perform again so leaves Hilary with the job of telling him she’s gone. Then comes the baby, Victoria Cecilia Essex . CC’s back and just in time as Hilary finds out that she’s dying, and needs a carer, she drops hints to CC who at first offers to pay for one then finds the old picture taken of the two of them the first day they met an she decides she can do the caring.

The last ¼ or so of the film is the best part because it shows a truly human side to CC, shows how friends should act and makes you realise that often you don’t truly know what you have until its gone. Watch as they reminisce over the old times and try not to cry when Hilary dies and CC tells Victoria that she has been left custody of her but she fully understands if she wants to stay with someone else.

Then the ending hits with such force. I’ve watched this film more times than you’d believe, at least 15 and I still cant get through the movie without crying when Hilary dies and whilst we see the highlights of these friends lives together Bette Midler sings over with the classis “wind beneath my wings”. You cant hlp but cry.

Its at this point for me that it hits home that you can make as many friends as you like but there will always be one that even if you lose touch will be there for you when you need it. Your true soul-mate, someone that can never be replaced and will never be forgotten.

So in my opinion if you’ve not seen this film before then try it really is a classic an if you have and you feel that you can’t go on anymore because you have lost everything/one then watch this and let it remind you that no matter how bad things get and how alone you think you are there is always someone there for you if you’ll only ask.

Now for the Cast:

Bette Midler .... Cecilia 'CC' Carol Bloom
Barbara Hershey .... Hillary Whitney Essex
John Heard .... John Pierce
Spalding Gray .... Dr. Richard Milstein
Lainie Kazan .... Leona Bloom
James Read .... Michael Essex
Grace Johnston .... Victoria Cecilia Essex
Mayim Bialik .... Cecilia 'CC' Carol Bloom (age 11)
Marcie Leeds .... Hillary Whitney Essex (age 11


You can buy this from eBay for around about £3.00 or new from Tesco’s for the bargain price of only £5.97.

Thanks for reading

Summary: Do You Have A Special Friend